Forget the postcards -- they're so yesterday -- and keep family and friends up to date on you vacation blog. Here are some tips on making your vacation blog easy and fun:
• Enlist the kids to help create the blog. Blog providers allow you to customize the look of your blog. If you go on a tropical vacation, for instance, you could choose aqua as a background color.
• Give it a trial run. Try posting text entries, photos and videos a week or so before you leave for your trip. This will put you at ease with the process before you're at your destination.
• Take turns being the entry's creator. Each night of vacation, a different family member can be in charge of writing the post and choosing visuals. Set up the schedule in advance, so the writer will be thinking about fodder during the day's outings.
• Don't try to cover the entire day's itinerary. The blog then becomes too much of a list. Instead, delve into one high point, something interesting, funny or disastrous that happened.
• Respect your child's voice. 'It's very easy as parents to say, Why don't you write about this? Why don't you write about that?' You have to really catch yourself,'' said Jennifer Denniston, who has blogged with her family from Singapore and Australia.
• Include people and sites in each picture or video clip. If you are posting a photo of the Grand Canyon, for instance, be sure to get some of your family members in the foreground.
